There’s a special thrill associated with world premieres, especially in the classical music world. Today’s composers draw from a dazzling palette, blending hundreds of years of Western musical history with a diversity of newer sounds, including flavors of jazz, pop, and electronica.
On Saturday, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra wraps all the excitement and genre-mixing of contemporary classical music in a single program, featuring five pieces by composers from around the world. World premieres by up-and-coming composers join recent works by Gabriel Prokofiev and Alex Baranowski, both known for melding classical styles with pop influences. A symphony by local composer Alan Hovhaness rounds out the program, a tribute to Seattle’s long, rich history of musical innovation.
Founded in 2009 by conductor Geoffrey Larson, SMCO functions as a pipeline for Seattle’s young professional musicians. The orchestra provides these rising artists a place to study and perform classical masterpieces — both old and new — as they embark on their careers. Despite their relatively young age, the musicians of SMCO are an energetic group with the chops to match their enthusiasm.
Along with providing opportunities for young performers, Larson and SMCO also champion the work of emerging composers. This past year, the orchestra’s first composition competition drew entries from around the world. Tampa-based composer Tyler Kline‘s sinfonietta was selected as the winner and will receive its first performance at Saturday’s concert. Also set to debut is Binna Kim’s The Letting Go. Kim’s work draws inspiration from her Korean heritage as well as the experimental tinkering of 20th century composers Luciano Berio and Edgard Varèse.
SMCO concertmaster Rose McIntosh takes the spotlight for the first West Coast performance of Gabriel Prokofiev’s Spheres for solo violin and orchestra. As the grandson of Sergei Prokofiev, London-based Gabriel can certainly boast of an impressive musical lineage. However, the younger Prokofiev has made a name for himself in his own right, finding acclaim as a composer, DJ, and founder of the Nonclassical record label and club nights. (Catch the globe-trotting composer in Seattle tonight as he debuts a new collaboration with the Seattle Symphony and local rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot.)
Like Prokofiev, fellow Londoner Alex Baranowski weaves between genres. He’s collaborated with pop bands like The xx, and his work in musical theater recently earned him a Tony Award nomination. SMCO performs Baranowski’s Musica Universalis for violin and orchestra, with McIntosh in the solo role. It’ll be the first North American performance for this soaring, meditative work.
Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Kaori Nakamura as Giselle (Photo: Angela Sterling)
Though May is already in full swing, there are still plenty of options for classical music fans looking for live music this month. It’s a busy time of year for Seattle’s classical music community as ensembles and organizations prepare to end the concert season with a bang. This month’s offerings run the gamut from opera and chamber music to modern dance and ballet. Don’t miss out on the action as international stars and local favorites take the stage at venues across the city.
May 3 – 17 — Only two more weekends left to catch The Tales of Hoffmann at Seattle Opera. Offenbach’s sparkling fantasy about the adventures of a wandering poet is Seattle Opera’s Speight Jenkins’ final production as general director.
May 12 — Music of Remembrance‘s spring concert blends silent film, klezmer, and a world premiere. New York-based ensemble the Klezmatics provides live accompaniment for the 1918 silent film The Yellow Ticket. Also, don’t miss the premiere of a new work by Lori Laitman, whose song cycle is based on poetry by Selma Meerbaum Eisinger, a Jewish teenager and Holocaust victim.
May 15-17 & 22-24 — Spectrum Dance Theater joins forces with the chamber musicians of Simple Measures for Rambunctious: A Festival of American Composers and Dance. Spanning two weekends, the festival presents seven new works by Spectrum artistic director and choreographer Donald Byrd, each set to a string quartet performed by Simple Measures. Composers represented include Gershwin, Copland, Ives, and Zorn.
May 16-18 — Based on a Greek myth, Handel’s Semele tells the tale of a young mortal woman who falls in love with Jupiter, the king of the gods. Early music ensemble Pacific MusicWorks and the University of Washington School of Music collaborate on a production of this Baroque masterpiece, complete with an all-star cast and orchestra.
May 17-18 — Seattle Pro Musica sings one of Brahms’ most beloved choral works, Ein deutsches Requiem (“A German Requiem”). The choral masterpiece features complex layers of vocal harmonies and melodies, as well as a timeless humanist message.
May 18 — Finnish pianist Ruusamari Teppo and cellist Jussi Makkonen visit Ballard’s Nordic Heritage Museum for a program of chamber music by Sibelius and other Finnish composers. Part of the museum’s Mostly Nordic concert series, this unique performance will be followed by a traditional Nordic smorgasbord meal.
May 29 – Jun. 1 — Join the Seattle Symphony for an evening of swinging patriotic favorites. The Celebrate America program features classic tunes like “Yankee Doodle” and “America the Beautiful” alongside hits by John Philip Sousa, John Williams, and others.
May 30 – Jun. 8 — Pacific Northwest Ballet‘s production of Giselle features retiring principal dancer Kaori Nakamura in the title role. Premiered in 1841, Adolphe Adam’s ballet follows the story of a peasant girl who dies of a broken heart and joins a group of vengeful female ghosts.
Spring is in full bloom around Seattle, from the University of Washington’s famed cherry trees to the patches of tulips poking up in home gardens around town. With these seasonal transitions come musical changes as well; local ensembles and concert venues look towards warmer weather this month with music of growth, rebirth, and summer sunshine.
April 8 — Trio con Brio Copenhagen performs as part of the UW World Series. Comprised of two Korean sisters and a Danish pianist, the ensemble performs classics by Beethoven and Mendelssohn as well as a piece by Danish composer Per Nørgård.
April 11 – 19 — Pacific Northwest Ballet‘s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream combines Mendelssohn’s beloved score with gorgeous choreography by 20th century master George Balanchine. PNB completes the magic with whimsical pastel-hued sets and costumes.
April 12 — A Russian composer of Jewish heritage, Maximilian Steinberg completed his 1927 choral masterpiece Passion Week just before Stalin’s ban on religious music went into effect. As a result, the piece was never performed. Choral ensemble Cappella Romana sheds light on this lost work with world premiere performances in Portland (April 11) and Seattle (April 12).
April 20 — Portland Cello Project rolls into town with the folk singers of the Alialujah Choir, a fellow Oregonian ensemble. The cellists and vocalists bring an eclectic mix of tunes to the stage at the Triple Door.
April 22 — Cellist Joshua Roman is back in town with a new program of musical gems for Town Hall audiences. The Town Music series artistic director is joined by Lithuanian pianist Andrius Zlabys for music by Stravinsky, Schnittke, and others.
April 24 & 26 — Seattle Symphony concertmaster Alexander Velinzon takes the stage for Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major. Afterwards, the spotlight shifts to the symphony in Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.
April 26 — Guest harpsichordist Alexander Weimann leads the Seattle Baroque Orchestra in “Delirio Amoroso”, a program that explores George Frideric Handel’s visit to Rome. Hear Italian music of the early 18th century alongside pieces the young Handel composed during his stay in the capitol.
April 29 — Intrepid violinist Hilary Hahn has covered vast musical territory in her career, from Baroque sonatas to contemporary composers. HerUW World Series solo recital features a medley of works by Mozart, Schubert, Schoenberg, Telemann, and others.
Ludovic Morlot at Opening Night at Seattle Symphony, 2011 (Photo: Ben VanHouten)
Seattle Symphony showcased the talents of one of their own this past weekend, featuring principal cellist Efe Baltacıgil in a performance of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B Minor. A bustling Thursday night crowd at Benaroya Hall greeted the charismatic cellist, who has won many fans among Seattle audiences since his arrival in 2011. Though the Dvořák concerto seemed to be the highlight of the evening for many symphony-goers, the March 27 concert included two 20th century gems: Claude Debussy’s La Mer (“The Sea”) and Edgard Varèse’s Déserts.
Premiered in 1896, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B Minor remains a favorite among audiences for its memorable themes and wide range of musical colors. Like many of the composer’s other works, the piece draws inspiration from folk tunes of Dvořák’s native Bohemia (part of today’s Czech Republic). Full of appealing melodies and exciting exchanges between orchestra and soloist, the concerto has plenty to offer for new listeners and seasoned fans alike.
Cellist Efe Baltacıgil (Photo: Christian Steiner)
This interplay between cello and orchestra makes Dvořák’s concerto the perfect work for Baltacıgil. A skilled chamber musician, the cellist blended well with the orchestra on Thursday evening. At times, the performance felt like an intimate conversation between Baltacıgil, Morlot, and the symphony. I particularly enjoyed Baltacıgil’s numerous duets with flutist Christie Reside throughout the concerto’s three movements.
Baltacıgil also knows how to take a good melody and make it sing. His lyrical solo passages in the first movement oozed tenderness, while tumultuous sections of the third movement were full of passion. The piece’s second movement balanced between the two, equal parts sweet and stormy. Although he looked quite exhausted at times, Baltacıgil handled the quick transitions between emotions with finesse.
Any signs of tiredness disappeared at the start of the third movement, the most exciting and energetic of the three. Baltacıgil tucked in eagerly, like a schoolboy reaching for a second slice of cake. He kept the energy building all the way up to Dvorak’s deliciously drawn-out finale, bringing the audience to its feet as the last notes faded.
The second half of the program featured two 20th century pieces inspired by natural environments. Varèse’s Déserts was written after the composer visited New Mexico, while Debussy’s La Mer commemorates the composer’s love of the ocean. Speaking from the stage to introduce the two works, Morlot emphasized the power of both pieces to evoke the sensory of experience of these natural environments. “They were inspired by the same journey…by the memory of being in those landscapes.”
An innovator constantly in search of new musical timbres, Varèse was one of the first composers to experiment with electronic sounds. Déserts was one of the products of his tinkering. In its original form, the piece alternated between snippets of electronic tape and music performed by a chamber orchestra of percussion, piano, woodwinds, and brass. Though Thursday’s concert featured a later version without the tape, it’s easy to imagine the work’s jagged melodic snippets and clusters of percussion juxtaposed with early electronic sounds.
Though Déserts is abstract, lacking any suggestion of a melodic theme, it doesn’t take a huge leap of the imagination to envision the desert’s stark landscape in the piece’s collection of sounds. Percussion plays a primary role in the work, which requires a veritable army percussion instruments, from woodblocks and chimes to gongs, timpani, and a dozen drums of all sizes.
It was a treat to watch Seattle Symphony’s team of percussionists in action, briskly moving between instruments across Benaroya’s vast stage. A gigantic metal sheet made a shimmering sound when struck, evoking wavering mirages tucked in the desert’s heat waves. Snare drums positioned across the stage from each other traded volleys of taps and patters. Meanwhile, reedy woodwind notes wove between majestic columns of brass sound, which towered overhead like stone monoliths.
Like the ever-changing ocean it depicts, Debussy’s La Mer is restless, shifting through a spectrum of moods and vivid musical imagery. This is a piece that’s meant to be experienced live. Under Morlot’s baton, Debussy’s music leapt to life, full of joyous energy, with melodies and colors flowing across the stage and through the auditorium.
La Mer unfolds slowly with a first movement that evokes a morning on the open sea. Snippets of melodies are heard as the ocean awakens. Particularly tantalizing were brief solo passages by concertmaster Alexander Velinzon and English hornist Stefan Farkas. Morlot and the orchestra emphasized Debussy’s unusual rhythmic patterns, evoking frolicking waves illuminated by sunbeams peeking through the clouds.
Full of quicksilver scales and chromatic runs, the second movement showcased the Seattle Symphony’s string section. Emphatic harp plucks and swooping passages accompanied the swirling string melodies. The excitement reached its peak in the third movement, which depicts the clash of wind and water. Under Morlot’s direction, I could both see and hear Debussy’s waves rippling through the orchestra from section to section.
Seattle Symphony continues the concert season with Carl Orff’s 1936 masterpiece for orchestra and chorus, Carmina Burana. The work’s famous “O Fortuna” movement has been used in countless films and TV shows. The symphony presents three performances of Carmina Burana this week from April 3 – 6.
On March 29, new music blends with video art, literature, and drama at Wallingford’s Chapel Performance Space. Hosted by contemporary music collective The Box is Empty, this multimedia event features world premieres by two composers, local favorite Nat Evans and New York-based Leaha Maria Villarreal. Both are known for compositions that blend live acoustic music with other elements, from electronic and recorded sounds to video and spoken texts. For Saturday’s concert, the Evans and Villarreal will be joined by video artists Erin Elyse Burns and Rodrigo Valenzuela, whose work accompanies the musical performances.
Composer Leaha Maria Villarreal
Founded in 2011 by conductor Jeremiah Cawley, The Box is Empty provides a platform for composers to collaborate, share ideas, and present their work. The Box is Empty has produced several performances around Seattle, from a multi-composer showcase at the Century Ballroom to individual composer spotlights at the Chapel Performance Space. The Chapel’s intimate stage, a longtime hub for the local music and performance art community, provides an ideal setting for Saturday’s concert.
Currently pursing graduate studies in musical composition at New York University, Villarreal has developed a growing presence in New York’s burgeoning new music scene. She’s co-founder and artistic director of Hotel Elefant, a chamber ensemble dedicated to performing works by living composers. Villarreal’s compositions draw inspiration from literature and visual art, often combining acoustic and electronics elements. Saturday’s concert features several of her pieces for strings, including “The Bell for Waking/The Bell for Sleep“, premiered by the JACK Quartet in 2012.
Inspired by Samuel Beckett’s 1961 play Happy Days, “The Bell for Waking/The Bell for Sleep” is named for the mysterious tone that controls the daily routine of the play’s protagonist. Like many of Villarreal’s works, the piece reflects on notions of home, loss, and memory. Saturday’s performance of “The Bell for Waking/The Bell for Sleep” will be accompanied by a new video work by Erin Elyse Burns.
Composer Nat Evans (Photo: Erin Elyse Burns)
The natural world, particularly the ecological environment of the Pacific Northwest, plays a large role Evans’ compositions. Many of his works are written with specific locations in mind and are intended to be performed outdoors, in the settings that inspired their creation. Other pieces incorporate field recordings collected by Evans during his travels through the region’s wilderness areas.
At Saturday’s concert, Evans debuts “More Comfort”, created in collaboration with writer Chelsea Werner-Jatzke and a group of visual artists. The resulting multimedia composition explores the evolving relationship between technology and the individuals it connects, examining the ways that devices such as televisions and mobile phones are changing the fundamental nature of human communication. Evans’ work blends the sounds of a live chamber ensemble with field recordings, snippets of spoken text, and a series of video pieces by Rodrigo Valenzuela.
Saturday’s performance will be Evans’ last concert in Seattle for awhile. In late April, he embarks on a 5-month collaborative residency on the Pacific Crest Trail, which spans the West Coast from the Mexican border to Canada. During his journey, Evans plans to work on a new composition and make field recordings along different segments of the trail. As he travels up the West Coast, he’ll mail his recordings to fellow composers in California, Oregon, and Washington. These collaborators will each compose a musical response. Together with Evans’ piece, these compositions form a musical account of Evans’ journey and the diverse ecological habitats he encounters along the trail.
Anchored by the ongoing Wayward Music Series, the Chapel Performance Space hosts a diverse variety of performances and events each month. Other upcoming concerts include a program of water-inspired music by Doug Wieselman on April 3, and an April 11 appearance by the GRID ensemble, performing music from the silent film Metropolis.
The Esoterics and founding director Eric Banks (Photo: The Esoterics)
Vast and mysterious, calming and perilous, the ocean has been a source of inspiration for cultures around the world and a rich topic for generations of poets and musicians. This weekend, local choral ensemble The Esoterics celebrates the many moods of the sea with Oceana, a selection of contemporary vocal works spanning several continents. The group’s mini-tour of the Seattle area began on Friday, March 7 with a performance at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Laurelhurst. Performances continue on March 8 with a stop at Capitol Hill’s St. Joseph Catholic Church and conclude on March 9 at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in West Seattle.
Oceana is the first of The Esoterics’ series of “choral ecologies”, concert programs that feature music inspired by natural forces. Upcoming installments in the series include Sylvana, music of the forest, and Aetheria, music of the air. A portion of the proceeds of each performance will go to a non-profit organization working to conserve our natural resources. For Oceana, The Esoterics has chosen Splash, a local group working to provide sustainable sources of clean water to children in developing regions.
It’s no surprise that The Esoterics have been regulars at St. Joseph and Holy Rosary for years; both churches are extraordinarily friendly spaces for contemporary choral music, featuring acoustics that highlight layered harmonies and complex rhythms. This season sees The Esoterics branching out, adding St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church to their stable of venues. Friday’s concert marked the ensemble’s debut performance at St. Stephen’s, located on a quiet residential street in the Laurelhurst neighborhood.
With its steeply pitched roof and warm interior, the church provided an intimate and inviting atmosphere for the nuanced works on the program. Poised against the backdrop of St. Stephen’s beautiful floor-to-ceiling pipe organ, the choir’s 32 voices sounded exceptionally clear and close despite my seat halfway across the long sanctuary.
Known for exciting performances that blend technical mastery with musical drama and emotional depth, The Esoterics were in their element at Friday’s performance, whisking the small crowd away on an exploration of the ocean’s many moods, from calm waters to stormy seas. Nowhere was this more evident than in These oceans vast, founding director Eric Banks’ musical setting of nautical poems by Herman Melville.
Literary legend Melville was an experienced seafarer, his maritime voyages providing the fodder for a large collection of poetry as well as his classic novel Moby Dick. Banks’ These oceans vast arranges six of Melville’s poems in a loose narrative describing a journey through uncharted waters to faraway lands. Commissioned by San Francisco-based choral ensemble Clerestory, the 2012 work captures the spirit of Melville’s text with distinctive rhythms, harmonies, and layered vocal effects. Originally composed for an all-male choir, Banks has since adapted the work for The Esoterics.
Full of rich imagery, the first three movements of These oceans vast show Banks flexing his compositional muscles. In the work’s first movement, “The land of love”, we’re transported dockside with swaggering shouts of “Hail! voyagers, hail!” The rhythmic cries eventually evolve into an accompaniment for the rest of the movement, which extols the virtues of the sea. The voyage continues with “The ledges of danger”, a sailor’s prayer which splits the choir between panicked chanting and sonorous calm. Though jarring at first, the rhythmic and harmonic lurching of “The uttermost rim” eventually coalesced into a convincing interpretation of a rowdy sea shanty, complete with a harmonious chord to accompany the final chorus of “fill up and drink”.
The rest of These oceans vast turns to the introspective, featuring a series of beautiful rising melodies in the fourth movement (“The last outpost”) and fine solo performances by Christine Bell, Elliot Kraber, Kurt Kruckeberg, and Whitney Wishart in the fifth movement (“The lagoons unruffled”). After weathering a harmonic storm, the work concludes with the joy of landfall, though soft chants of the word “sleep” suggest that we might still be adrift, dreaming of land. As Banks’ first commissioned work, These oceans vast is quite an accomplishment, showcasing the composer’s capacity for writing that engages both performers and audience.
English composer Richard Rodney Bennett’s Sea change honors the work of three legendary British poets: Edmund Spenser, Andrew Marvell, and William Shakespeare. These three literary giants paint a picture of the sea as a powerful force full of mysterious isles and hungry sea monsters. Bennett’s experience with jazz and film scores is evident in the four-part Sea change, which injects the old poems with fresh musical character.
The Esoterics brought Bennett’s work to life, from the spooky confusion of Shakespeare’s “The isle is full of noises” (from The Tempest) to the roars and growls of “The waves come rolling”, a verse about sea monsters from Spenser’s 16th century epic The Faerie Queene. The ensemble seemed to relish Bennett’s challenging setting of Spenser’s text. Sung in indeterminate pitch, the piece teeters between unity and cacophony, with lots of fun monster noises in between. It’s a light-hearted romp, but Banks and the ensemble take the piece’s technical challenges seriously, keeping the performance from descending into pure silliness.
Two haunting works from opposite ends of the globe rounded out the evening. In Gösta Nystrœm’s Tre havsvisioner (“Three sea visions”) the Swedish composer reflects on his longtime love for the ocean with a trio of meditative songs based on poetry by fellow Scandinavians. Opening with soft chants that evoke gently rolling waves, Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov’s “Coral del arrecife” (“The coral of the reef”) honors the riches of the ocean, from bright corals to precious sea salt. The brief piece, with text by Pablo Neruda, forms the final movement of Oceana, Golijov’s 1996 masterpiece for orchestra and chorus. It’s a powerful work in its original form, but The Esoterics’ rendition sans orchestra brings extra intimacy to Golijov’s gem of a piece.
The Esoterics perform the Oceana program again on March 8 in Capitol Hill and on March 9 in West Seattle.
